Little Christmas Bazaar

We'll be doing lots of jewelry showings in 2009 and hopefully I'll be able to keep everyone informed of these events well in advance. But here's a few tidbits about the little Christmas Bazaar that was held November 29th at Thorntonview Residence here in Oshawa.

My jewelry table was located beside the Tea Room in the Corbett wing where Kate lives. Although totally isolated from the other vendors, this location did prove to be advantageous. The atmosphere was more quiet, tranquil and intimate in this area, where coffee, tea and christmas cakes were being served.

I'm glad we attended this venue which served as a good trial run and gave me a chance to see how my new display items will work.

In early 2008 I bought countertop displays, a sample case and other display items from Rio Grande but I hadn't had a chance to use them. In the top photo black vinyl stackable trays from my rolling sample case (Rio Grande no. 400-468 $18) are used as countertop containers. I lined my sample trays with black velvet easel back display pads that are a breeze to set up and dismantle. If there were more room, more easel back displays could be stood up freeing up the trays to hold keychains, bookmarks, zipper pulls etc.

For earrings we used a rotating hanging card display on the left and a clear plexiglass lockable countertop display case on the right. I'm currently using generic plastic earring cards (Rio Grande 405-557/14) that I personalize using a label maker.

This setup is by no means artistic, but it's functional and easy to transport. The rotating displays get moved in unfinished wooden crates from Michael's. Two crates will hold the halogen desk lamp, both display stands, table cloth, and all non displayed inventory, tools, promotional items etc.

As y'all know, I love visuals and here's the Fall/Winter 2008 Brochure personalized for this particular event. I print one on matte photo stock and copy what I need. In this case I only took about 30 of these. David handed them out in the 'real' bazaar area. If it was a bigger event, I would take this to Staples for copying.

We displayed a variety of items at varying price points - from five dollar earrings & SassyDLite casual items to formal luxe gemstone items from Gahooletree. I was surprised that none of the newly created items sold. Go figure! At Staples we couldn't find the little coloured dot stickers to colour code items by price, but we made due as best we could.

A big hit was actually a last minute addition. Practically on the way out the door I grabbed a handful of 925 Italian sterling silver snake chain necklaces with sterling silver gemstone pendants attached (from Mexico) that sold out. Obviously these aren't truly handmade by my definition but they looked impressive once I finally polished them up and spread them around the table.

We donated a door prize/raffle item that I forgot to photograph :) It was a gift wrapped gemstone treasures necklace. I included a formal typed item description with overview of my jewelry and mini bio - a promotional flyer specific to that one donated piece as info for the winning recipient.

We picked up a few custom orders and overall it was a great day as I got to sit and sip coffee with Kate (who had a blast interacting with the customers). I'm pleased with this venue and we'll likely be there again next year. In fact I just met with my publicist on Monday to begin setting up our 2009 events calendar. Until next time...

~Anna Lee